Dads are Worth More Money in 2013?

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June 10, 2013

This Year's "Dad Salary" Is Up Considerably from 2012

By Aaron Gouveia, Salary.com contributing writer.

Look out moms, dads are on the rise!

Granted, it might seem like men are getting the short end of the stick lately. Whether we're talking about books devoted to "The End of Men" or all the recent surveys that show women as quickly emerging breadwinners, to the untrained eye it might look like men are in trouble. But we're not.

Sure more men are out of work, but the flip side to that is more men are also becoming full-time caregivers. Nearly 200,000 men are stay-at-home fathers now according to U.S. Census data, and studies show even working dads are spending more time on the home front, because of the added emphasis on physically being present with family and helping out more at home. Yes, men are struggling to find that balance but it's no different than the struggles women face as more of them leave their domestic duties behind to climb back into the workforce.

So today we're here to celebrate the advancements dads are making, and there are plenty of them.

Just like we do for mom, every year leading up to Father's Day we have a little fun and try to figure out how much money dad would be paid if dads were actually compensated for the work they put in at home.

It goes without saying, but this is not an exact science. You can't put a price on everything dad does to take care of his family, and this is merely our attempt to bring that to light. So we polled 2,347 dads over the course of a full year, asked them what jobs they work on most at home and with the kids, applied our extensive salary data to those jobs and came up with the dad salary. If you haven't taken it, you can go here and fill out the info. Don't forget to print the check for yourself or your dad at the end.

As a husband and father myself who has spent time as a primary caregiver and, more recently, a working dad, here's my take on this year's "dad jobs" and how they break down.

*All salaries are from May 2013 and include salary data specifically for companies with less than 25 employees.

No one likes to do laundry. Dads do it because it has to be done, which is why the most unpleasant chore is last on the list year after year.

Perhaps it's because laundry is a neverending headache that has the potential to drive us insane. First of all, separating out the colors and delicates is a hassle. Second, trying to fold the clothes is what I always found most objectionable. Regular shirts and pants are fine, but all those little kid clothes are a true pain. And the socks -- holy hell the socks! They either don't have a match or -- mysteriously -- they seem to multiply like crazy rabbits. Not sure exactly how that happens, but it does. And it's not fun.

Many dads are the ones who bring peace to the family universe and keep everyone grounded.

Sometimes, after spending an entire day with our son and being completely frazzled, my wife is at the end of her rope by the time I get home from work. So is my son for that matter. Since I'm a working dad who can only contribute when I'm home, I use this time to talk to my son about what's wrong, what happened, how he feels, and how we can fix it in the future. And while that's happening, my wife can take a bath or go for a walk to clear her head.

Not all fathers have the years of advanced training a psychologist does, but many of us are experts at listening to problems and maintaining the delicate family balance of sanity.

This is a dad staple for me, mainly because I love to be outside and I'm an ultra competitive person. Which means that damn neighbor of mine is going down this year as I work toward the ever-elusive perfect shade of lush green and manicured greatness of my lawn. But whether it's mowing, weeding, or planting in the yard, it often falls to dads to keep the outside of the house looking prim and proper.

Many dads fancy themselves as mini CEOs of the family, guiding everyone through life's choppy waters, making important decisions that impact everyone, and dealing with the overall well-being of the employees (um, I mean kids!). What this usually means is getting together with our co-CEO spouses and working hard to make top-level choices that have a lasting effect on the family unit. The decision to move, take a new job, start a business, etc. are all part of the parental CEO job responsibilities.

Interestingly, CEO was #7 for stay-at-home dads but #4 for working fathers.

Now I want to be clear, answering the call doesn't always mean doing so successfully. Heck, in my house my wife is better suited to deal with the electrical and mechanical problems, and "the call" is often to a professional who can get the job done without making it worse. But that doesn't mean I don't Google the repair in question and hunt down some YouTube videos to at least try to fix what's broken.

This job was #3 for working dads, probably because stay-at-home fathers have the bulk of the day-to-day tasks when home on a daily basis.

This one rings very true since I'm the designated driver in the family.

Whether it's a long road trip or just a jaunt to the playground, I'm a dad who is constantly behind the wheel. There's nothing wrong with the way my wife drives, but she just prefers the passenger seat -- and that rings true for most of the fathers I know as well. There's just something about late night roadtrips on the highway when everyone else is asleep and dad is cruising down the road getting everyone safely to their destination. It also helps that our rule is whoever is driving controls the radio -- so there's that!

When they're newborns you're a diaper technician and often feel like you should be in a radiation suit. When they learn to walk you have to make sure every surface is clean because kids will lick anything and everything, including floors and walls. Then come the crayons, the paint, the dirt, the mud...it never ends. And until they learn to clean up after themselves (that day never seems to arrive), you're stuck with general maintenance until they go off to college.

Some dads cook a lovely steak diane. I can handle mac & cheese or burgers and hotdogs on the grill. But the bottom line is, dads cook too.

Most people think moms have the culinary market cornered, but that's not always the case. Dads -- especially stay-at-home dads -- cook a lot and it's up to them to keep the kids on a steady diet of tasty, nutritious meals on an daily basis. My wife is a much better cook than I am, but I've learned it's less about the actual food and much more about taking the time to make an effort. Most dads get that and are adjusting accordingly.

It probably surprises very few people that dads are all over the technology components of parenting.

The #2 job for stay-at-home dads and the #1 item for working dads, it's clear fathers everywhere are the arbiters of computers and technology related tasks in their respective households. From developing complicated Excel spreadsheets outlining household duties to fixing the network connection and dealing with malware from spouses and kids clicking on things they weren't supposed to, dads are spending much of their time plugged in and keeping the family tuned in to the Internet and the virtual world.

Obviously this job speaks more to stay-at-home dads than working dads (#7 on their list) strictly because of available time and circumstances, but oftentimes the hardest part about parenting is finding something for the kids to do and making sure they're taken care of on an ongoing basis. Dads incorporate arts and crafts, play time, play dates, and -- gasp! -- yes, sometimes even TV while taking care of the little ones. It's not usually glamorous, but it's very important and obviously time consuming.

First of all, the number of dads who took our survey rose 23% for stay-at-home dads compared to last year, and 8% for working dads. This backs up the recent trend of more involved fathers and men choosing to forego their careers in order to raise their kids full-time.

Stay-at-home dads work an average of 55.7 hours a week on household and childcare related duties, while working dads clock in 33.7 hours a week in additional to working 40 hours a week at their day jobs. Both groups saw a 5% increase in the number of hours spend on these duties from 2012. When factoring in the number of hours worked, base pay, and overtime, stay-at-home dads would earn $67,204 a year and working dads would make $38,231 a year if they were paid for their work. Their salaries increased 8% and 4% respectively.

However, this still pales in comparison with the 94 hours a week stay-at-home moms say they work, and the 58 hours a week working moms claim they record. In fact, several prominent dad bloggers take genuine issue with the fact that working mothers say they spend more time on these tasks than full-time stay-at-home dads, and have several theories about why that is. Click here to read those opinions.

And don't forget to go to our Dad Salary Wizard, fill in the info for you or your dad, and see how much you (or your dad) should be paid! Happy Father's Day.

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